CA 2015 Battle Green
How the Shotgun 650 came to life
Mark Wells: "After we had shown the SG650 Concept (above) at Eicma in 2021, it gathered huge interest from international custom builders and got heads turning, so much so that we decided to build it." WebBikeWorld
CA 2015 GT 535
Close look at Himalayan 450
FL 2015 Chrome
NE 2016 GT 535
What are they doing wrong?
I thought it was the saris, but, legally, there is nothing women can not do in saris. Legally, though, helmets are required. IndiaToday
Custom Interceptor from Malaysia
Shotgun 650 vs. Super Meteor 650
NE 2001 Military
CA 2012 bobber
Specs show Honda copied the Classic
GA 1957 Trailblazer
FL 2018 Battle Green
Himalayan a great bike: ADVPulse
CA 2022 GT 650 custom
NV 1943 WD/CO
Old Brit Bullet or India made?
Paul Henshaw shows you the FAST way to tell an old Bullet made in India from an original UK Bullet. YouTube
Friday, September 9, 2016
Are Royal Enfield motorcycles Indian enough for India?
What is good for me is not necessarily good for India, of course. So, when a blog item in The Times of India suggests such artifacts of the past as my Royal Enfield may be unhelpful to India, I'm compelled to consider that possibility.
Blog author Francois Gautier describes himself as French, but he obviously knows more about India than I do. He is prepared to point fingers.
"It is probably the British colonization that blunted for good the Indian innovation spirit," he asserts.
"...Take the manufacturing sector, for instance, since Independence, India has often copied English models, such as the Ambassador car, the Royal Enfield Bullet, or the Raleigh cycle, selling them at huge profits for decades and never caring much to improve them."
Gautier's argument, I take it, is that India must innovate from its own strengths to prosper in the modern world.
Makes sense. Take what you have and build on it.
And so, he asks:
"What is that Indian-ness then? And what to do so that Indians become innovators again and not copiers anymore?"
Unfortunately, his solutions are not innovative. He suggests, in effect, that India celebrate its own national history, heroes, religion, sports stars and business spirit. His proof that this will spur innovation seems to be based on the argument that it worked for France.
"...Napoleon is known in India."
In all, I think he's a bit harsh. Napoleon is a special case. So is India.
Today, Royal Enfield is taking steps to insert itself into international markets. Surely a good thing.
In an effort to gain traction globally, the new Continental GT certainly trades on the motorcycle's British heritage. Maybe not innovative design, but smart marketing, I think.
And now the new Himalayan model seems to me to be a pure example of India building on its own strengths (and geography) to innovate.
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those curly bits on the 'E" and the 'D" remind me of a pair of cats with their backs to us, and their tails curled around them!
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